ABILENE – The Wildcats know they're going to the postseason, but who, when and where they'll play next week are still in dispute as the Lone Star Conference enters an exciting final week to its 2012 regular season.
As it stands today, West Texas A&M and Incarnate Word are tied for first and guaranteed a first-round bye, while Angelo State is a point ahead of Midwestern State for third place. ACU and Texas Woman's are tied with 16 points and neither can finish higher than fifth.
The Cardinals hold the tiebreaker over the Lady Buffs thanks to two regular season victories, but have the tougher of the two matches Friday as they play host to the Rambelles. West Texas, in search of its first conference title since 2009, travels to last place Eastern New Mexico.
The Wildcats can hold onto fifth place with a win Friday over Midwestern, but a loss or tie combined with a TWU victory Saturday against Commerce will drop them into sixth. ACU and MSU tied at 1-1 earlier this year in Wichita Falls, adding to a respectful rivalry that started to flourish after the Wildcats upset the Mustangs for the 2010 Lone Star Conference Championship.
MSU returned the favor last year in handing the Wildcats their first loss of 2011, but over the past six meetings, ACU is 4-1-1 against its archrivals.
Both teams started 2012 incredibly slow despite being preseason favorites, and have only recently begun to recover. ACU has won three straight and four of five since starting its season at 3-8-1, while the Mustangs are 5-2-1 over the last month with both defeats coming in overtime.
Ashley Cottrell, who has scored five of her seven goals during the last six matches, has paced MSU's offense this season. Earlier this month, Cottrell scored twice in a big 4-1 win over West Texas, and just this past weekend she delivered both goals in a 2-1 victory vs. the Pioneers.
Payton Fookes has also played well recently for MSU in contributing two goals and three assists over the last five contests.
Goalkeeper Mallory Whitworth began conference play in early September with a 2.75 goals-against average, but has since whittled it down to 1.20 following a shutout win Sunday vs. Commerce – her fifth of the season.
As for the Wildcats, they have scored over half of this season's 19 goals during their last five matches, including a 3-0 win at Eastern New Mexico and 4-0 clubbing of Texas Woman's. ACU's win over the Pioneers was its largest since beating Texas A&M-International by the same margin in September of last year.
In addition to outscoring its opposition 10-2 during this stretch, the Wildcats have averaged just over 10 shots allowed per match and eight corner kicks. They've also reduced their number of fouls, while watching the opposition receive four yellow cards.
ACU ranks last in the conference with a 6.7 fouls per match average. MSU is first with 9.65.
The fewer number of shots taken have made ACU goalkeeper
Arielle Moncure's job a bit easier. She's pitched three shutouts so far this month, and hasn't been forced to make more than five saves since an eight-save effort at Commerce on Oct. 1. Moncure's most recent shutout lowered her season GAA to 1.16.
Offensively, ACU's possession, distribution and shot selection have markedly improved from match-to-match, and three of its players (
Julie Coppedge,
Jacey Ferrara,
Krysta Grimm) have scored two or more goals over the last five outings. Just as impressive has been the team's overall shots on goal percentage of .474 (36-for-76).
Fans who can't make it out to Friday's 4 p.m. match vs. Midwestern State can follow the action through the ACU Sports page at
StatBroadcast.
